"[7], A ground source heat pump was used to heat the building in the winter and cool the building in the summer. [17], However, the design of the organ in its housing made maintenance difficult, and by 2000 it had become unusable. The principal architect for the project was Robert Matthew, supported by Leslie Martin and Peter Muro — around half of the workers involved in building the hall were Jewish refugees, as pointed out by the current leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, at a recent Royal Festival Hall event. Designed to promote Britain‘s leading contributions to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts, the festival was also intended to serve as a ‘Tonic to the Nation’, raising moral and fostering a sense of recovery following the devastation of World War II. [23], It was known that the ancient Greeks had developed the technique of using vases built into their auditoria which added resonance to strengthen tone or improve its quality, though the effect was very weak. [8], They were concerned that whilst the scale of the project demanded a monumental building, it should not ape the triumphal classicism of many earlier public buildings. View Royal Festival Hall's concert history along with concert photos, videos, setlists, and more. The festival hall was joined by two more music venues, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room, opened in 1967, and the Hayward Gallery in 1968. Delstar Engineering supplied eleven lifts to form the stage platform. The adjacent British Film Institute and the Royal National Theatre opened in 1957 and 1976 respectively, though they are independent of the Southbank Centre. "I was overwhelmed by a shock of breathless delight at the originality and beauty of the interior. The various foyers, bars and restaurants were intended as classless spaces, open to all, honoured today by the building’s radical ‘open foyer’ policy which allows the public to roam throughout the building all day, seven days a week. [citation needed] The building's original entrance sequence was much compromised by these changes and the later additions of raised concrete walkways around the building to serve the neighbouring Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and The Hayward, built in 1967/8. [16], Following a successful campaign to raise £2.3 million for a full restoration and reinstallation of the organ, the original organ builders, Harrison & Harrison, finally completed the reinstallation on 29 August 2013. But the strength of the design was the arrangement of interior space: the central staircase has a ceremonial feel and moves elegantly through the different levels of light and air. Hope Bagenal and his colleagues from the Building Research Station formed an integral part of the design team. The closest tube stations are Waterloo and, across the river via the Jubilee Bridges, Embankment and Charing Cross. Leo Beranek, an American acoustics engineer who had undertaken measurements of all of the world's leading concert halls, had identified that the interior treatment of the auditorium was absorbing too much sound. [citation needed], The Royal Festival Hall undergoing restoration work, July 2005, Seen from the Golden Jubilee Bridge, during reopening celebrations in June 2007, Southbank Centre aerial view (Royal Festival Hall in Centre), July 2007, Royal Festival Hall terraces, February 2008, Westerly corner showing riverside facade, August 2008, North-western facade at night with the London Eye and Palace of Westminster upriver, November 2009, North-western facade at dusk with the London Eye and Palace of Westminster, October 2008, Rear facade at night seen from Concert Hall Approach, March 2010, Rear facade from the Hayward Gallery during restoration, May 2007, Illuminations over Festival Terrace, January 2010, Illuminations over Festival Terrace, December 2010, Royal Festival Hall (bottom left) from the London Eye, July 2008. The Festival Hall was one of the first concert halls in the world to be built using the application of scientific principles, both theoretical and experimental. The space between seat rows has been extended by 75mm by rebuilding the concrete floor of the stalls, with a loss of only 118 seats. The venue officially reopened to the public in June 2007. Heat was extracted from the river water using a heat pump. "[11], The hall they built used modernism's favourite material, reinforced concrete, alongside more luxurious elements including beautiful woods and Derbyshire fossilised limestone. It was highly successful, providing both heating and cooling for the Hall, but over-sized, and was sold off after the Festival of Britain.[21]. New adjustable acoustic canopies were placed over the stage's width to allow bass frequencies to resonate in the space above the stage, and for treble frequencies to be reflected back to improve feedback to performers. [2], The hall was built as part of the Festival of Britain for London County Council, and was officially opened on 3 May 1951. The ceiling was wilfully sculptural, a conceit at the very edge of building technology and, as it turns out, way beyond the contemporary understanding of acoustics. [10], To quote Leslie Martin, "The suspended auditorium provides the building with its major attributes: the great sense of space that is opened out within the building, the flowing circulation from the symmetrically placed staircases and galleries that became known as the ‘egg in the box’. The choir benches can now be wheeled out to provide a level floor for staged and dance performances. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. Seating was reduced slightly to 2,788, including the choir seating. Alterations to the façades overlooking the river removed the decorative tiles, altering the Scandinavian Modernism of the building's primary public face in favour of a plainer and hard-edged style.

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